Instruction and Faculty Development

Michelle Dubaj posted the results of her Faculty Development – Summary

“I had asked the listserv: Has anyone done a targeted effort for Faculty Development in conjunction with their Information Commons? I am looking for institutions that have
some type of program/workshop/institute that helps faculty create
lessons/curriculum that support the type of learning and atmosphere
found in a successful information commons.

Summary of Responses:

Multi-day workshops seemed to be the most popular choices, but
suggestions varied as to who hosted & ran the event. It varied from
collaboration with a Center for Teaching and Learning to a triumvirate
of Library, Center for Teaching, and IT.

-Hold general faculty meetings and faculty development meetings in the
space. – Todd Quinn, Dakota State University

I don’t know if my institution has done anything in conjunction with academic technology or the faculty development/learning & teaching center but it would be interesting to talk about. There’s a gap between all of these function not only for faculty but for students as well. Several times on the reference desk I’ve had people come up needing some combination of research, writing and technology help that we don’t have the time or expertise to provide. Brown bags in the departments during the semester, short workshops in the academic technology center’s biannual series, and longer workshops during the summer or the break would help address this.

On that note, I’m making a note to attend the following free online event from the Blended Librarians community on Learning Times:

“Please join Steven Bell and John Shank, co-founders of the Blended Librarian Online Learning Community and their guest William Miller for the next community event, “Shifting The Balance: Faculty-Led Information Literacy Instruction”, on Thursday, December 8, 2005 at 3:00 pm Eastern (New York).” http://home.learningtimes.net/library?go=1043236 (NOTE: registration on Learning Times required to access site)